Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) to Issue $0.32 Quarterly Dividend

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.315 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%.

Waste Connections has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.5% annually over the last three years. Waste Connections has a dividend payout ratio of 21.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Waste Connections to earn $5.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.5%.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $189.54 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $179.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.43. The firm has a market cap of $48.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.77. Waste Connections has a 12 month low of $153.07 and a 12 month high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 15.43%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Waste Connections will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on WCN. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. CIBC reduced their price target on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.06.

About Waste Connections

Waste Connections, Inc provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, disposal, and resource recovery services in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services to residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, and exploration and production (E&P) customers; landfill disposal services; and recycling services for various recyclable materials, including compost, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles, and ferrous and aluminum metals.